Central Scotland MSPs Linda Fabiani and Christina McKelvie joined First Minister Alex Salmond and the families of servicemen and women this week at an ecumenical service in Motherwell Cathedral to honour members of the armed forces killed or injured in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Speaking after the service, Ms Fabiani, whose home constituency of East Kilbride has a strong armed forces tradition, said:
“This has been an extremely moving occasion which has powerfully highlighted the bravery of our servicemen and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan and the scale of the sacrifice that has been made by so many of them.
“Like other Members of the Scottish Parliament, some of my constituents have paid the ultimate price, such as Corporal John Harrison of East Kilbride, who was killed just last month during a heroic rescue mission in Afghanistan.
“It is so important that, as a nation, we show appreciation and respect for the families who have borne the loss of loved ones, for the servicemen and women who have returned home, sometimes with terrible injuries, and for those members of our armed forces who are still in harm’s way every day.”
Fellow Central Scotland MSP, Christina McKelvie said:
“Regardless of what we think about the rights and wrongs of the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, our servicemen and women deserve our gratitude.
“We must never forget or take for granted the sacrifices that they have made, which is why I hope that today’s service will be only the first of its kind.
“A big part of the respect that we owe to our armed forces must take the form of adequate care and support for veterans, which is why I am very pleased that the Scottish Government put in place a range of measures, from significantly increased finding for the charity Combat Stress to a guarantee of access for injured veterans to state-of-the-art prosthetics from NHS Scotland.”
The Service of Remembrance which took place in Motherwell Cathedral on Thursday 29 October was the first large ecumenical service of its kind in the UK.
The Scottish Government published a paper of commitments to Veterans and Armed Forces Communities in July 2008. It can be read at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/07/CommitmentsPaper2008.